Model Template - Club New Member Application form - 2018

When a newcomer applies to a club to become a new member, an application form will be usually be provided so that the aspiring member can provide the necessary personal data to the club as well as enabling the club to transfer information in the opposite direction. In the new GDPR world this becomes a key document because it will serve as proof that the club has met at least some of the responsibilities imposed upon it by these new laws.

If there is one guiding principle to be retained by club officers regarding personal data, it is this - keep it simple.
And the primary decision is therefore ... what is the minimum data that we need? The more data you collect the more onerous the task holding it, justifying the holding of it, the protection of it, and the task, often neglected in the past, of keeping it up to date. The task of maintaing accuracy becomes a legal responsibility, this is one of the changes that may not be immediately evident.

At the same time as presenting an aspiring new member with the form, a document defining the club's Data Privacy Policy should be presented in tandem.

The template needs to be amended by replacing 'XYZ' with the name of your club, and where there are square brackets text amendments need to be made.

As an example of the changed thinking, most application formms in the past had a space for a signature.
A bridge club is not a bank, a lawyer's office or a tax office. You are not applying for a mortgage. Why do you need a signature?
Initials are good enough, even also arguably unnecessary - old habits die hard!

If a club feels that its membership data is not as accurate as they would wish, it may be a good idea to tweak the form and and ask ALL members to complete it to ensure that current members data is brought up to date.
The form could be handed out at your upcoming AGM or sent out by email to your members.
This would also serve the purpose of having the Data Privacy Policy to be formally brought to the attention of all existing members.

The template is hopefully self-evident.
Any queries should be directed to ...

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Please note this is a recommendation, there is no formal obligation for clubs to follow this template.
However it would be helpful for us to know if you do not do so and for what reason, since that might help us to improve the template.